After The Storm
by VVSINGOFTHECROSS
Summary: Elenda Caron, wife to Lord Borros Baratheon, mother and regent of Olyver Baratheon, must now fix the issues her husband left behind. Part of the Broken King Series.


**After the Storm**

Elenda had not loved her husband. But she had considered him a close friend. Borros was loud, boisterous and belligerent. He had had his charms, but she could never find it in her heart to replace the Marcher knight she had once known with this man. She had done her duty though, producing four daughters for him, though each one had gnawed at her, would she be set aside if she failed to produce a son? But Borros did not seem to care, he treated Cassandra as his heir until he had learned she was with child once more. She still remembered what he had said to her before he had marched for war.

_"If it is a son, name him Aegon for our King."_

Whether or not he had actually felt any loyalty to Aegon II she did not know, but when the child had been born, with a head full of black hair, and a scream of blue eyes, she had named the child Olyver, after her grandfather, and that had been five moons ago. Olyver was strong and hale, and she looked forward to the day when he could rule in his own right. But now he was a babe, and so she ruled in his stead. His cousins had bid her well on this duty, Borros's cousins had either died fighting at the Kingsroad or returned to join the fray in helping her. They were good men, all of them.

She cleared her throat, it was well past time she pushed aside remembrances. "Maester Boremund, tell me, how much do we have prepared for winter?" Maester Boremund was a cousin of her husband from his grandfather Ronnal, he was a smart man and had served as Maester of Storm's End for twenty years.

"My lady, we have enough stores to see us through a five-year winter, no more, no less. Lord Borros was right to wait as long as he did before marching off to war, for now we have full granaries. And with the number of mouths we shall need to feed this winter, we shall need everything we have." Maester Boremund replied.

"Why, do you expect many will come from the marches?" She asked. It was almost a tradition, that when winter came, the smallfolk of the Marches, would come to Storm's End, to be housed and fed. Her husband had often grumbled at it.

"I believe there will be more than there were during the last winter, some twenty years ago, my lady. I believe that the war has taken a toll on the land, and though the Stormlands was not affected, other areas were, and it is from those other areas that people will come." Boremund said.

Elenda thought about that and then replied. "Unless they come from the Stormlands we cannot house them, such a thing would be dangerous to us and to our people, seven knows where they might have come from."

Boremund seemed as though he might agree with her, and then something shifted in him. "I would recommend that we suggest a splitting of those who go to us and those who go elsewhere within the Stormlands, my lady."

Elenda raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the suggestion. "Go on."

"Send the most needy and desperate here, children and women. Those who are old and frail may head over to Blackhaven, or to Mistwood, or to House Morrigen, or anywhere where there is better healing properties, and where their deaths will not cause a burden." Boremund said. "Now, I know some of the lords will protest this, and to ensure that they do not protest too loudly, you could access some of the silver and gold in the coffers and state that for those who do this, they will get a five percent bonus."

Elenda thought about it and then asked. "And what if everyone decides to do it, because of that reward?" She had learned that for all their protestations, the Stormlords were very much about money, but Storm's End was not made of it.

"Not all of them will. Connington will not, Musgood will not. But those that do will take a small share, nothing more." Boremund said.

"Very well, have the letters written and sent out." Elenda commanded.

"Yes, my lady." The maester said.

Elenda took a moment and then she asked. "And what word do our friends at court bring?" Though the regents likely did not know this, they still had friends at court, friends who kept a close eye on the King and his Queen, and all that was happening. Indeed, it had been one of their friends who had suggested the idea of seven regents.

"Well, my lady. Ser Tyland Lannister has been confirmed as Hand of the King, and alongside the regents is working hard to balance the finances of the crown. The Iron Bank of Braavos has returned the money that he deposited there at the start of the Dance. The rest is slowly being brought back from the Rock, and other areas. It is said he means to use it to repair the roads and the barns and farms of those affected during Prince Aemond's burning of the area. The regents are agreed on this; however, they are bickering on other things. Mainly how to handle Dalton Greyjoy, and his band of raiders, as well as how to handle the slow breaking up of the Triarchy. It seems Corlys Velaryon and Jeyne Arryn are the two most powerful of the regents, Ser Torrhen Manderly is a second party arguing for non-intervention in anything not within King's Landing, whilst Velaryon and Arryn argue that they must needs dispatch the fleet to handle Greyjoy at once."

Elenda considered this information with great interest. "Manderly is no doubt doing what he thinks is best for his faction at court. He was a black, after all. The more the Lannisters are punished the harder it will be for them to rise back. However, Greyjoy will not stop there, he will move to the Reach also."

"Indeed, my lady, this is something that Lady Jeyne has argued. Indeed, your ladyship's father Lord Royce and Lord Mooton have voted in favour of her motion to send the fleet out to handle Greyjoy at once. Only Grand Maester Munkun and Lord Roland Westerling have voted against it or abstained." Boremund said.

That surprised Elenda. "Why would Lord Roland vote against something that would protect his own daughter?"

"Ser Torrhen has promised him gold and silver from White Harbour's mines to rebuild the Crag. That is something he cares about more than the Westerlands being under attack." Maester Boremund said.

"How interesting." Elenda mused.

"Indeed, my lady." Boremund replied. "Then there is the fact that the King and Queen continue to remain apart. It is said that the King wants to murder his Queen, and the Queen wishes to die."

Elenda looked at Boremund and laughed. "That does not surprise me."

"Indeed, my lady. I think it fair to say that the Queen will not see out the year." Boremund replied.

Elenda said nothing at that only. "I will ensure that Cassandra is ready."


End file.
